A Study on Behaviour of Smart Materials :

Application of Smart Materials to Concrete Bridges

PRESENTED BY
A.S.S.VARA PRASAD
10A25A0102

Department. of Civil Engineering

Swarnandhra College of Engineering and Technology,
Narspur

A Study on Smart Materials behavior:

Application of Smart Materials to Concrete Bridges

Abstract: - With the development of materials and technology, many new materials find their
applications in civil engineering to deal with the deteriorating infrastructure. Smart material is a
promising example that deserves a wide focus to application. With two crystal structures called
Austenite and Martensite under different temperatures, smart material exhibits two special properties
different from ordinary steels. One is shape memory, and the other is superelasticity. Both of these
two properties can suit varied applications in civil engineering, such as prestress bars, selfrehabilitation. One of the main objectives of the application of smart materials in civil engineering is
basic information collection, and basic mechanic properties of smart materials. In axial tension tests,
the force-extension curve and stress-strain curve of shape memory and superelasticity materials.
Introduction
With the development of material science, many new, high-quality, and cost-efficient materials have
come into use in structural engineering. Smart material is one good example. Since Nickel-Titanium
smart material was first studied in Naval Ordinance Laboratory it rapidly found applications in many
fields such as aerospace, mechanical and biomedical engineering etc.

Today, more and more

researchers are focusing on smart materials for their special properties and performance in civil
engineering applications.
Smart material can exist in two phases at

different temperatures: Austenite, which exists in high

temperature, and Martensite, which exists in low temperature. When the external temperature or
stress condition changes, these two phases will transform to the other phase, depending on what
change appears. Smart material exhibits many special properties during the transformations between
these two phases, such as shape memory effect, superelasticity effect, and two-way memory effect.
Perhaps, the most vivid show of the potential of shape memory alloy has been the television
commercial in which a pair of eyeglasses is twisted around someones finger. The moment the
person releases them, the eyeglasses snap back into their proper shape.

This is known as

superelasticity. It is actually the shape memory property of Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) that allows
them to do so. As the wire is bent, the increased stress causes the wire to transform from Austenite to
Martensite phase. However, when the wire is released, the stress drops to zero and the wire shifts
back to the Austenite phase and its original shape.
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is a special class of adaptive material that can convert thermal energy

directly into mechanical work. When properly mixed, a variety of alloys exhibit this effect by
repeated heat treatments. Shape memory effect in various alloys has been documented since the early
1930s, leading to a number of commercial products in the mechanical and aerospace industries.
Ni-Ti is the most commonly used SMA .
When SMA is subjected to plastic deformation at low temperatures T< A = Austenite start
temperature), it undergoes a mechanical twining process in which each adjacent layer of atoms moves
by one lattice parameter. However, when the material is heated above A f, (where A = Austenite
finish temperature), it undergoes a phase transformation, recovering most of the mechanically
imposed deformation and restoring to the original memory shape of the specimen. This effect is
referred to as one-way memory effect. Through special heat treatment process, two-way memory
effect can be achieved. The two-way memory alloys can undergo large and opposite deformations
upon heating and cooling and can serve as two-way actuators. That is, heating the SMA results in
one memorized shape while cooling results in a second different shape. Using this two-way effect,
the SMA can expand or shrink so that it can apply and remove stress in a structure on an as-needed
basis, which can lead to a smart structure.
The phase transformation but also the stress state. When stress changes, the phase transformation
temperatures may also change. This means that the phase transformation can also be activated
without actual temperature change, but through a stress change, as is the case demonstrated by the
eyeglass example discussed above. This property provides a promising application in self when
concrete structures start to crack, the increased stress in the SMA may activate the phase
transformation, which produces compressive stress in the structures to limit the cracking.
History of Smart Materials:The first recorded observation of smart material transformation was made in 1932 on cadmium. In
addition, in 1938 the phase transformation was observed in brass (copper zinc). It was not until 1962,
however, that Beehler and coworkers and attendant shape memory effect in Nickel-Titanium at the
Naval Ordinance Laboratory. They named this family of alloy Nitinol after their lab. A few years
after the discovery of Nitinol, a number of other alloy systems with the shape memory effect were
found.

Though product development using smart materials began to accelerate after the

discovery of

Nitinol, many of the smart materials contained expensive and exotic elements. Only the copperbased alloys came close to challenging the Nitinol family as a commercially attractive system.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, a number of companies began to provide Ni-Ti materials and
components, and an increasing number of products.
Stress-Strain Relationship of Smart Materials:-

From the stress-strain point of view, smart materials act differently in artensite and Austenite
phases. Above figure shows the typical stress-strain curves of smart materials at these two phases.

The upper plateau represents the change from Austenite to Martensite under stress while the lower
plateau represents the reverse process. with stress release. This property can be used to rehabilitate
the cracking of concrete when superelasticity smart material is used as the reinforcement bar.

Applications of Smart Materials:

Smart materials have been increasingly used in many engineering fields land shape control, actuators,
composites, shock absorption, damping of vibrations, automatic on-off switch and biomedical areas.
Under the quasi-static conditions, smart materials have also been successfully adopted as load bearing
actuators in some complex structures, such as rotor blades, submersibles, and aircraft wings.
Smart materials have abilities to change their material properties like Youngs modulus, damping, and
internal forces. Using this feature, smart material has been integrated with composite material
structures to implement control for static and dynamic performance.
Bridge Problems and application of smart materials to bridges:Differential settlement between bridges and pavements causes bumps or uneven joints at the bridge
ends. When vehicles, especially heavy trucks, approach and leave bridges, the bumps cause large
impact loads to the bridges and pavements. It is well known that these uneven joints can cause
pavement and bridge deterioration, damage automobiles or cause accidents. The damage includes
separation of pavement topping from its base, spalling of joints, fatigue cracking of pavements, and
fatigue damage to bridges. A similar problem is associated with the uneven settlement between the
piers of the bridge or the approach spans. When differential settlement occurs, not only is the
drivability of the bridge affected, but additional internal forces are also created for the structure.
Maintenance of joints is a big problem and expense for engineers and highway officials.
Traditionally, in dealing with these problems, engineers focus on improvement in foundation design.
However, they have not been very successful in resolving these problems associated with the
unevenness of the joints and differential settlement.
Temperature change and time-dependent effects, such as creep and shrinkage, also cause internal
restraint forces for indeterminate structures. These forces alone or together with other external load
effects cause cracking of existing structures and pavements, or increase the cost for new construction
meant to cope with these effects (such as increase in section dimensions).
Another problem is that associated with the performance of bridge bearing. Malfunctioning bearings
due to material deterioration, clogging of dirt, and other factors result in tremendous stresses near the
bearing region. This causes changes in the force redistribution and thus makes the bridges behave
differently from the intended design. These problems are common factors in bridge failures and in
maintenance requirements. Finding a way to automatically adjust forces among the bearings in order
to alleviate all of the above problems is desirable.
Smart Bridges:-

The two-way memory effects of SMA can be used to make SMA actuators that can rise and fall to
adjust their heights.The SMA can also be used to manufacture smart strands. After mechanically
deforming the strands and embedding them in concrete, the prestressing and self-repair effects can be
activated as needed during the life of the structure. The smart strands are actually actuators that can
be activated by external heating or internal stress changes. The applications of the smart bearings and
smart strands can be used to develop a smart bridge as shown in figure. The smart bearings will
adjust their heights through the shape memory effect of the SMA.
This height adjustment will correct the unevenness problem as well as the internal forces induced
from differential settlements, time-dependent deformations (creep and shrinkage of concrete,
relaxation of prestressing steel), and temperature changes as discussed earlier. When needed, the
prestress forces can also be adjusted to deal with cracking issues in both positive and negative
moment zones. With the combined application of the smart bearings and smart strands, the bridge
can adjust its internal force distribution and mobilize each element to adapt itself to different
environmental loads like those induced by differential settlement, time-dependent effects,
temperature effects, and over-weight trucks.

Conclusions:-

The history of smart materials indicated that smart materials have shown their promise in civil
engineering applications and some research has been conducted in this area.

The basic mechanical properties of smart materials, including superelasticity and shape memory,
can obtained from the material tests in laboratory, especially the force-extension and stress-strain
curves.

The superelasticity material had high yield strength so that under ordinary force the material will
still be elastic. Therefore, it can go back to the original shape after the force (or stress) is released.

The superelasticity material recovers the concrete cracking to some extent after the external force
decreased.

Recommendations:
Currently, smart materials are not developed specifically for civil engineering applications, and it is very
difficult to acquire appropriate materials for these applications

References:
1.) Rogers, C.A., Baker, D.K. and Jaeger, C.A., Introduction to Smart Materials and Structures,
Smart Materials, Structures, and Mathematical Issues. Technomic Publishing Company, Inc. 1989.
2.) Soroushian, P., and Hsu, J.W., Superelasticity-Based Rehabilitation and PostTensioning of Bridge
Structures, NCHRP-96-IDO29, NCHRP-IDEA, Aug. 1997.
3.) Otsuka, K., and Wayman, C.M., Shape Memory Materials, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1998.
Analysis. In the Transportation Research Record 1770, TRB, National Research Council, Washington,
D.C., 2001.